Sensory impairments and subjective well-being status in middle-aged and older Chinese population: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of a nationally representative survey

Yifan Zhou; Yan Lu; Ye Liu; Yanan Hou; Xinyi Qian; Kaiweisa Abuduxukuer; Minhong Xiang; Qing Peng; Jianfeng Luo

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1099754

Sensory impairments and subjective well-being status in middle-aged and older Chinese population: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of a nationally representative survey

Front Public Health. 2023 Mar 16:11:1099754. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1099754. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yifan Zhou¹, Yan Lu^{2

3}, Ye Liu^{4

5

6}, Yanan Hou^{7

8}, Xinyi Qian⁹, Kaiweisa Abuduxukuer^{4

5

6}, Minhong Xiang¹⁰, Qing Peng¹¹, Jianfeng Luo^{4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Putuo People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
² Office of Party and Government Affairs, Healthcare Services Center, Yichuan Street Community, Putuo, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ NHC Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of Ministry of Education, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁷ Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Shanghai Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁸ Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Shanghai General Hospital (Shanghai First People's Hospital), Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁹ Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai, China.
¹⁰ Department of Ophthalmology, Putuo Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
¹¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the impacts of sensory impairments (SIs) including single vision impairment (SVI), single hearing impairment (SHI) and dual sensory impairment (DSI) on subjective wellbeing measurements including life expectancy (LE), life satisfaction (LS) and self-rated health (SRH) in middle-aged and older Chinese population.

Methods: We obtained data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS). In total, 9,293 Chinese middle-aged and older adults aging over 45 were included at baseline 2011 in this study, and 3,932 participants who accomplished all 4 interviews from 2011 to 2018 were adapted for longitudinal analyses. Sensory status and subjective wellbeing measurements were collected. Other covariates included socio-demographic characteristics, medical condition and lifestyle-related factors. The impacts of baseline sensory status on LE, LS and SRH were assessed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. A linear regression analysis with generalized estimating equations (GEE) was used to assess the association between time-varying sensory statuses with LE, LS and SRH over 8 years after being adjusted with multi-confounding factors.

Results: Participants with SIs had significantly lower level of LE, LS, and SRH, compared to those who were free of SI. All kinds of SIs were significantly associated with LE, LS, and SRH according to cross-sectional data. The correlations between SIs and LE or SRH over 8 years were also noticed. However, only SHI and DSI were found to be significantly associated with LS according to longitudinal data (all p values < 0.05).

Conclusion: Sensory impairments had explicitly detrimental effects on subjective wellbeing status over time among middle-aged and older Chinese population.

Keywords: China health and retirement longitudinal study; life expectancy; life satisfaction; self-rated health; sensory impairment.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aging
Cross-Sectional Studies
Deaf-Blind Disorders*
East Asian People*
Hearing Loss*
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Middle Aged
Surveys and Questionnaires
Vision Disorders*

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project of Public Health (Award Number: GWV-10.1-XK14) and the Project of Shanghai Putuo District People's Hospital (2021rmlcky01). The sponsors or funding organizations had no role in the design or conduct of this research.